Boise Pride Cancels Drag Kids Event After Death Threats
Organizers of this weekend’s Boise Pride event had to cancel a Drag Kids event after its producers received death threats.
The event was to allow children to “put on sparkly dresses and lip-sync to songs,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
But Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon said that Pride’s sponsors were “financing the sexualization of our children and the perverse idea that children should engage in sexual performances with adult entertainers.” The claim was repeated by the state Republican Party and other far-right websites and podcasts, according to LGBTQ Nation.
Four Democratic state lawmakers pledged their own money and collectively called out Moon’s “false, dangerous claims … that stoke violence.”
The Idaho state Republican Party wrote on Twitter, “The sexualization of children is wrong, full stop. It is wrong whether parents consent to it or not. Boise Pride relies on out-of-state money to bring child-focused drag events to our community. Idaho rejects the imposition of adult sexuality & adult sexual appetites on children.”
The state GOP also encouraged people to pressure the festival’s sponsors to remove their support. Some reportedly removed their logos from festival fencing and canceled their plans for booths, the AP reported. Although other business sponsors helped take their places. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced its decision to withdraw, taking $38,000 (approximately £33,000) in funding from the event, including resources put towards anti-tobacco and HIV prevention messaging.
Boise Pride also wrote a statement defending the event. It wrote, “The drag kids performance is a celebration of self-expression and confidence. The only perversion and sexualization of this performance are coming from extremists and people like Dorothy Moon, who are twisting it into something it is not.”
Organizers mentioned that children have performed onstage in different Pride events for years, and that doing so “builds that confidence and is a form of creative expression,” KTVB reported. The news station noted that several academic studies back up this claim.
Nevertheless, Pride festival president Michael Dale said that the level of opposition was far from normal. The Drag Kids lead organizer, Riley Burrows, started receiving death threats via social media. “It’s: ‘We’re going to show up at this festival,’ ‘We’re coming after you,’ ‘I hope you know you have a target on your back,’ and ‘You’re going to be found in a tree,'” Burrows said. “It’s gotten so repetitive.”
The five children who had signed up to perform said they still wanted to perform, despite the controversy. However, Boise Pride canceled the event and hired extra security to keep festival goers safe. “We have made the very difficult decision to postpone this performance due to increased safety concerns,” Boise Pride wrote in a postponement announcement.
Child-friendly drag shows have become a contentious political issue nationwide as Republicans increasingly accused drag performers and LGBTQ+ educators of “grooming” and “sexualizing” children.
Tudor Dixon, a Republican candidate for Michigan governor, said he would support a bill handing down “severe criminal penalties for adults who involve children in drag shows.”
In early June, Texas state Representative Bryan Slaton (R) announced that he intends to file a bill during the state legislature’s upcoming session that would ban drag shows in the presence of minors. He has claimed that “drag shows subject underage kids to inappropriate sexual content by adults.” A few days later, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) implied he is open to using Florida’s child protective service laws to terminate the parental rights of adults who take their kids to see drag shows.
Right-wingers have issued bomb and death threats against local libraries and restaurants for holding drag events. Protesters sometimes infiltrate the venues, frightening children and their families, as well as recording and threatening public exposure of any adults who participate in them.
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